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Chromium–corundum, as a common refractory material, is broadly applied in high‐temperature kilns due to its superior thermal stability and high melting point. Unfortunately, this refractory is susceptible to corrosion and destruction under extreme furnace conditions by chemical erosion, mechanical wear, and thermal shock, which significantly shortens its useful life. Accordingly, in recent years, the issue of how to improve the slag corrosion resistance, mechanical, and sintering properties of chromium–corundum refractories has aroused widespread attention. In this work, the corrosion behavior and application status of chromium–corundum refractories in Ausmelt furnace, waste incinerator, coal water slurry gasifier, and HImelt melting reduction furnace are analyzed and discussed. To improve the service life of chromium–corundum refractories, the enhancement method and mechanism of sintering performance, mechanical properties, slag corrosion resistance, and thermal shock resistance are also summarized. Finally, some suggestions and prospects are made for the enhancement and longevity of chromium–corundum refractories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an effective method to improve the performance of biomass fuels. In this work, the reusable maize stalk (MS) hydrochars were prepared at different carbonization conditions, and the effects of carbonization parameters on physicochemical properties, recovery rate, coalification mechanism and combustion behavior of MS hydrochars were investigated. The results show that with the increase of temperature and time, the particle size, O/C and H/C ratios, flammability index and comprehensive combustion characteristic index of MS hydrochars decrease gradually, while the calorific value, ignition temperature (Ti), and burnout temperature (Tf) increase gradually. The combustibility and combustion reactivity of MS hydrochars are significantly better than anthracite. Under the optimal carbonization conditions (260 ºC, 40 min, solid–liquid ratio of 2%), MS hydrochar has a high carbon content and calorific value, and the carbon content and calorific value of MS are 66.85 and 22.36 MJ·kg−1, respectively. HTC technology can effectively transform MS biomass into high energy density solid fuel, which provides a theoretical basis for expanding the application field of hydrochars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the ignition and ablation of a propellant by plasma produced during the electrical explosion of aluminum wires. An experimental platform is established to investigate the mechanism underlying this process. Al wires of different diameters and single-base, double-base, and triple-base propellants are considered. The electrical explosion products of the Al wires and the ablated propellant are analyzed in detail. The results show that during the explosions, the peak voltage of a 0.1 mm-diameter Al wire is the highest and that of a 0.5 mm-diameter wire is the lowest. The discharge voltages are basically the same after the metal vapor is broken down and formed into a plasma discharge channel. The peak of the particle diameter distribution of the explosion products of a 0.1 mm-diameter wire is at about 25 nm, that of a 0.2 mm-diameter wire is around 35 nm, and that of a 0.5 mm-diameter wire is around 50 nm. The ablation effect of a single-base propellant consists mainly of thermal ablation by plasma and impact ablation by particles. The ablation of a double-base propellant is mainly thermal ablation, and the ablation of a triple-base propellant is mainly thermal ablation dominated by particle impacts. The thermal decomposition temperatures of different propellant components have a significant influence on the ablation process. These results have a wide range of applications, such as in the design of plasma generators and energetic materials in electrothermal chemical guns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Accurate inversion of crop water content is key to making an intelligent irrigation decision. However, little effort has been devoted to accurately estimating the crop water content of winter wheat in the North China Plain. (2) Method: The crop water content of winter wheat was measured at jointing, flowering and grain-filling stages, respectively. UAV-based multispectral remote sensing images were used to calculate thirteen vegetation indices, including SAVI, EVI, R-M, NDRE, OSAVI, GOSAVI, REOSAVI, GBNDVI, NDVI, RVI, DVI, GNDVI, and TVI. Five machine learning (ML) algorithms (i.e., MLR, RF, PLSR, ElasticNet, and ridge regression) were adopted to estimate the crop water content of winter wheat at the three growth stages. The benchmark datasets, which include CWC as well as vegetation indices calculated based on spectral indices, were adopted to validate the performance of the ML models. (3) Results: The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.64 to 0.82 at different growth stages. The optimal vegetation indices were GNDVI for the jointing stage, NDRE for the flowering and the grain-filling stage, respectively. Among the five machine learning methods, random forest (RF) showed the best performance across the three growth stages, with its coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.80, or an increase by 20.1% than those of other models. In addition, the RMSE and RPD of the RF model at the flowering stage were 3.00% and 2.01, which significantly outperformed other models and growth stages. (4) Conclusion: This study may provide theoretical support and technical guidance for monitoring current water status in wheat crops, which is useful to develop a precise irrigation prescription map for local farmers. (5) Limitation: The main limitation of this study is that the sample size is relatively small and may not fully reflect the characteristics of the target groups. At the same time, subjectivity and bias may exist in the data collection, which may have a certain impact on the accuracy of the results. Future studies could consider expanding sample sizes and improving data collection methods to overcome these limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis, is an important agricultural pest affecting maize production in southwestern China, but knowledge of the toxic effect of Bt maize on the pest has been insufficient until now. In this study, we determined the susceptibility of ACB to Cry1Ab, Vip3Aa, and their complex proteins and evaluated the efficacy of Chinese domestic Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize ("DBN3601T" event) against the pest in Yunnan Province of southwestern China. The susceptible bioassay indicated that the LC50 values of the Cry1Ab and Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa proteins expressed by the Bt maize varieties against ACB larvae were 51.42 and 46.85 ng/g, respectively; however, the ACB larva was insensitive to the Vip3Aa protein. The Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa protein contents in V6–V8 leaves, VT tassels, R1 silks, R2 kernels, R3 stalks and R3 cobs of the Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize were 114.20, 30.69, 3.77, 8.92, 11.09 and 10.99 μg/g, respectively. The larval feeding test indicated that the Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize was more toxic to the early instar larvae, and the survival time of larvae fed on the leaves was the shortest, while it survived the longest on stalks. The identification of maize resistance levels in the field showed that both larval density and plant damage score of Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize were significantly lower than those in conventional maize. It is concluded that the Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize can be used for control of the ACB in southwestern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although self‐assembly has emerged as an effective tool for fabricating biomaterials, achieving precise control over the morphologies and functionalities of the resultant assemblies remains an ongoing challenge. Inspired by the copper peptide naturally present in human plasma, in this study, we designed a synthetic precursor, FcGH. FcGH can self‐assemble via two distinct pathways: spontaneous and Cu2+‐induced. These two assembly pathways enabled the formation of assemblies with tunable morphologies by adjusting the amount of added Cu2+. We found that the nanoparticles formed by Cu2+‐induced self‐assembly exhibited a significantly higher cellular uptake efficiency than the wormlike fibers formed spontaneously. Moreover, this Cu2+‐induced assembly process occurred spontaneously at a 1 : 1 molar ratio of Cu2+ to FcGH, avoiding the excessive use of Cu2+ and a tedious preparation procedure. By co‐assembling with 10‐hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT)‐conjugated FcGH, Cu2+‐induced supramolecular nanodrugs elicited multiple cell death modalities in cancer cells with elevated immunogenicity, enhancing the therapeutic effect compared to free HCPT. This study highlights Cu2+‐induced self‐assembly as an efficient tool for directing the assembly of nanodrugs and for synergistic tumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although self‐assembly has emerged as an effective tool for fabricating biomaterials, achieving precise control over the morphologies and functionalities of the resultant assemblies remains an ongoing challenge. Inspired by the copper peptide naturally present in human plasma, in this study, we designed a synthetic precursor, FcGH. FcGH can self‐assemble via two distinct pathways: spontaneous and Cu2+‐induced. These two assembly pathways enabled the formation of assemblies with tunable morphologies by adjusting the amount of added Cu2+. We found that the nanoparticles formed by Cu2+‐induced self‐assembly exhibited a significantly higher cellular uptake efficiency than the wormlike fibers formed spontaneously. Moreover, this Cu2+‐induced assembly process occurred spontaneously at a 1 : 1 molar ratio of Cu2+ to FcGH, avoiding the excessive use of Cu2+ and a tedious preparation procedure. By co‐assembling with 10‐hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT)‐conjugated FcGH, Cu2+‐induced supramolecular nanodrugs elicited multiple cell death modalities in cancer cells with elevated immunogenicity, enhancing the therapeutic effect compared to free HCPT. This study highlights Cu2+‐induced self‐assembly as an efficient tool for directing the assembly of nanodrugs and for synergistic tumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic upcycling of polyolefins into high‐value chemicals represents the direction in end‐of‐life plastics valorization, but poses great challenges. Here, we report the synthesis of a tandem porous catalyst via a micelle cascade assembly strategy for selectively catalytic cracking of polyethylene into olefins at a low temperature. A hierarchically porous silica layer from mesopore to macropore is constructed on the surface of microporous ZSM‐5 nanosheets through cascade assembly of dynamic micelles. The outer macropore arrays can adsorb bulky polyolefins quickly by the capillary and hydrophobic effects, enhancing the diffusion and access to active sites. The middle mesopores present a nanoconfinement space, pre‐cracking polyolefins into intermediates by weak acid sites, which then transport into zeolites micropores for further cracking by strong Brønsted acid sites. The hierarchically porous and acidic structures, mimicking biomimetic protease catalytic clefts, ideally match the tandem cracking steps of polyolefins, thus suppressing coke formation and facilitating product escape. As a result, light hydrocarbons (C1‐C7) are produced with a yield of 443 mmol gZSM‐5−1, where 74.3 % of them are C3‐C6 olefins, much superior to ZSM‐5 and porous silica catalysts. This tandem porous catalyst exemplifies a superstructure design of catalytic cracking catalysts for industrial and economical upcycling of plastic wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic upcycling of polyolefins into high‐value chemicals represents the direction in end‐of‐life plastics valorization, but poses great challenges. Here, we report the synthesis of a tandem porous catalyst via a micelle cascade assembly strategy for selectively catalytic cracking of polyethylene into olefins at a low temperature. A hierarchically porous silica layer from mesopore to macropore is constructed on the surface of microporous ZSM‐5 nanosheets through cascade assembly of dynamic micelles. The outer macropore arrays can adsorb bulky polyolefins quickly by the capillary and hydrophobic effects, enhancing the diffusion and access to active sites. The middle mesopores present a nanoconfinement space, pre‐cracking polyolefins into intermediates by weak acid sites, which then transport into zeolites micropores for further cracking by strong Brønsted acid sites. The hierarchically porous and acidic structures, mimicking biomimetic protease catalytic clefts, ideally match the tandem cracking steps of polyolefins, thus suppressing coke formation and facilitating product escape. As a result, light hydrocarbons (C1‐C7) are produced with a yield of 443 mmol gZSM‐5−1, where 74.3 % of them are C3‐C6 olefins, much superior to ZSM‐5 and porous silica catalysts. This tandem porous catalyst exemplifies a superstructure design of catalytic cracking catalysts for industrial and economical upcycling of plastic wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks provide global data service coverage and has become increasingly popular. Uncoordinated access channels reduce data latency in LEO networks by allowing user terminals to transmit data packets at random times to the satellite without any coordination overhead. In this paper, packet acquisition in uncoordinated access channels of LEO networks is studied and a novel solution, called ChirpPair, is proposed, with which the satellite can detect the packets as well as estimating key parameters of the packets for data demodulation. With ChirpPair, the packet preamble consists of a chirp and its conjugate, where a chirp is a complex vector with constant magnitude and linearly increasing frequency. ChirpPair adopts a multi-stage process that gradually increases the estimation accuracy of the parameters without incurring high computation complexity. ChirpPair has been demonstrated in real-world experiments with over-the-air transmissions. ChirpPair has also been evaluated by simulations with the 3GPP New Radio (NR) Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) channel model and the results show that ChirpPair achieves high accuracy despite its low computation complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premature leaf failure is one of the major factors contributing to crop yield reduction. High-yielding soybean cultivars exhibit a longer leaf lifespan during the reproductive period, promoting higher yields. In this experiment, physiological indexes and transcriptomics analysis were carried out on leaves of different canopy parts of two soybean cultivars with different senescence sensitivities of LD32 and SND28 as test materials. The results showed that the leaf senescence rates of the two soybean cultivars, tested at the grain-filling stage, were significantly different, and the senescence rates of the upper and middle canopy leaves of LD32 were significantly lower than those of SND28. In comparison to SND28, LD32 exhibited slower decreases in chlorophyll, net photosynthetic rate, and SPAD values in the upper and middle canopy leaves. The differentially expressed genes for senescence of upper and middle canopy leaves of both cultivars were enriched in four pathways: the photosynthesis pathway, the photosynthesis–antenna protein pathway, the MAPK signaling pathway–plant hormone signal transduction pathway, and the plant hormone signal transduction pathway. The differential expression of 20 genes (Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, etc.) in the "carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms" pathway of LD32 may be involved in the regulation of reducing the rate of leaf senescence in the middle of the canopy at the grain-filling stage of LD32. Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase in LD32 may reduce the rate of leaf senescence in the middle of the canopy during seed filling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is widely used to relieve respiratory failure in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Prolonged MV (PMV) is associated with a poor prognosis. We aimed to establish a prediction model based on machine learning (ML) algorithms for the early identification of patients with CHF requiring PMV. Methods: Twelve commonly used ML algorithms were used to build the prediction model. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was employed to select the key features. We examined the area under the curve (AUC) statistics to evaluate the prediction performance. Data from another database were used to conduct external validation. Results: We screened out 10 key features from the initial 65 variables via LASSO regression to improve the practicability of the model. The CatBoost model showed the best performance for predicting PMV among the 12 commonly used ML algorithms, with favorable discrimination (AUC = 0.790) and calibration (Brier score = 0.154). Moreover, hospital mortality could be accurately predicted using the CatBoost model as well (AUC = 0.844). In the external validation, the CatBoost model also showed satisfactory prediction performance (AUC = 0.780), suggesting certain generalizability of the model. Finally, a nomogram with risk classification of PMV was shown in this study. Conclusion: The present study developed and validated a CatBoost model, which could accurately predict PMV in mechanically ventilated patients with CHF. Moreover, this model has a favorable performance in predicting hospital mortality in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spray forming is a manufacturing process that enables the production of high-performance metallic materials with exceptional properties. Due to its rapid solidification nature, spray forming can produce materials that exhibit fine, uniform, and equiaxed microstructures, with low micro-segregation, high solubility, and excellent workability. Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys have been widely used in the aerospace field due to their excellent properties, i.e., high strength, low density, and outstanding machinability. The alloy manufactured by spray forming has a combination of better impact properties and higher specific strength, due to its higher cooling rate, higher solute concentration, and lower segregation. In this manuscript, the recent development of spray-formed Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys is briefly reviewed. The influence of hot working, i.e., hot extrusion, hot forging, and hot rolling, as well as different heat treatments on the property and microstructure of spray-formed Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys is introduced. The second phases and their influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties are summarized. Finally, the potential in high-temperature applications and future prospects of spray-formed aluminum alloys are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are being sprayed onto aero-engine turbine blades, or while the engine blade is working, high temperatures and strong impact forces will damage TBCs under thermal cycles, resulting in the coating peeling off from the blades. The current method of using ECT, IRT, or another method alone cannot achieve the real-time detection of coating defects with both high precision and high penetration power. Two detection methods, namely, terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), were combined to evaluate typical defects observed in TBCs (including internal debonding cracks, surface high-temperature cracks, and surface etched cracks). The results showed that the OCT system successfully obtained the micron-level axial resolution, but the detection depth of the OCT system was limited. The TPI system achieved a higher penetration depth than OCT—hence, it can be used for the nondestructive detection and evaluation of the internal debonding defects in the sample—but its resolution needs to be improved. Following this conclusion, a method is proposed using TPI and OCT concurrently for the nondestructive testing and quantitative evaluation of TBCs on etched cracks, thus achieving progress both in terms of depth and resolution. In our experiment, defects with a depth of 519 μm and a width of 100 μm were measured. The proposed method is suitable for situations where multiple defects in TBC samples of blades need to be detected simultaneously during the working process. When there are defects deep inside the sample, more small cracks on the surface can be evaluated to achieve a combination of depth and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata (Walker), an important migratory pest of maize and wheat, is posing a severe threat to maize production in Asian countries. As source areas of spring–summer emigratory populations, the control of M. separata in southwestern China is of great significance for East Asian maize production. To assess the toxicity of Bt maize against the pest, bioassays of Bt-(Cry1Ab+Vip3Aa) maize (event DBN3601T), Bt-Cry1Ab maize (event DBN9936), and Bt-Vip3Aa maize (event DBN9501) were conducted in Yunnan province of southwest China. There were significant differences in insecticidal activity between the three Bt maize events, and DBN3601T presented the highest insecticidal role. The results also indicated that the insecticidal effect of various Bt maize tissues took an order in leaf > kernel > silk, which is highly consistent with the expression amounts of Bt insecticidal protein in leaf (69.69 ± 1.18 μg/g), kernel (11.69 ± 0.75 μg/g), and silk (7.32 ± 0.31 μg/g). In field trials, all larval population densities, plant damage rates, and leaf damage levels of DBN3601T maize were significantly lower than the conventional maize. This research indicated that the DBN3601T event had a high control efficiency against M. separata and could be deployed in southwest China for the management of M. separata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer is a prevalent malignancy globally, often linked to chronic colitis. Terahertz technology, with its noninvasive and fingerprint spectroscopic properties, holds promise in disease diagnosis. This study aimed to explore terahertz technology's application in colitis‐associated cancer using a mouse model. Mouse colorectal tissues were transformed into paraffin‐embedded blocks for histopathological analysis using HE staining. Terahertz transmission spectroscopy was performed on the tissue blocks. By comparing terahertz absorption differences, specific frequency bands were identified as optimal for distinguishing cancerous and normal tissues. The study revealed that terahertz spectroscopy effectively differentiates colitis‐related cancers from normal tissues. Remarkably, 1.8 THz emerged as a potential optimal frequency for diagnosing colorectal cancer in mice. This suggests the potential for rapid histopathological diagnosis of colorectal cancer using terahertz technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol exhibits great prospects, while the catalysts with high selectivity and activity are still missing and need to be created urgently. Herein, we report the synthesis of hollow mesoporous Pt/WOxSiO2-TiO2 nanosphere catalysts with bi-functional interfaces synergistically for high efficiency conversion of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol. The hollow mesoporous Pt/WOxSiO2-TiO2 catalysts show a typical brick-concrete liked framework with a high surface area (179.3 m2g·1), large mesopore size (10.6 nm), uniform particle size (~ 400 nm), and ultrathin shell thickness (~ 75 nm). The brick anatase nanocrystals and concrete amorphous SiO2 networks can selectively rivet Pt nanoparticles and WOx nanocluster species, respectively, thus constructing two interfaces for effective adsorption, rapidly catalytic dehydration and hydrogenation processes. The hollow mesoporous Pt/WOxSiO2-TiO2 catalysts deliver a high selectivity of 53.8% for 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) at a very high glycerol conversion of 85.0%. As a result, a favorable 1,3-PDO yield of 45.7% can be obtained with excellent stability, which is among the best performances of previously reported catalysts. This work paves a new way to synthesize catalysts with high selectivity, high activity and high stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peroxisomes are organelles that carry out β-oxidation of fatty acids and amino acids. Both rare and prevalent diseases are caused by their dysfunction1. Among disease-causing variant genes are those required for protein transport into peroxisomes. The peroxisomal protein import machinery, which also shares similarities with chloroplasts2, is unique in transporting folded and large, up to 10 nm in diameter, protein complexes into peroxisomes3. Current models postulate a large pore formed by transmembrane proteins4; however, so far, no pore structure has been observed. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the minimum transport machinery includes the membrane proteins Pex13 and Pex14 and the cargo-protein-binding transport receptor, Pex5. Here we show that Pex13 undergoes liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) with Pex5–cargo. Intrinsically disordered regions in Pex13 and Pex5 resemble those found in nuclear pore complex proteins. Peroxisomal protein import depends on both the number and pattern of aromatic residues in these intrinsically disordered regions, consistent with their roles as ‘stickers’ in associative polymer models of LLPS5,6. Finally, imaging fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy shows that cargo import correlates with transient focusing of GFP–Pex13 and GFP–Pex14 on the peroxisome membrane. Pex13 and Pex14 form foci in distinct time frames, suggesting that they may form channels at different saturating concentrations of Pex5–cargo. Our findings lead us to suggest a model in which LLPS of Pex5–cargo with Pex13 and Pex14 results in transient protein transport channels7.A study presents evidence to support a model in which liquid–liquid phase separation of components of the transport machinery mediates formation of transient protein transport channels on peroxisomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) approaches by encumbering mitochondrial functions provide great promise for the treatment of malignant tumors, but these kinds of ICD strategies are still in their infancy. Here, one multifunctional drug‐loaded, cascade‐targeted, and enzyme‐instructed self‐assembling peptide nanomedicine (Comp. 4) for ICD‐based cancer therapy is constructed. Comp. 4 consists of 1) lonidamine (LND) that specifically interferes with mitochondrial functions; 2) a programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) binding peptide sequence (NTYYEDQG) and a mitochondria‐specific motif (triphenylphosphonium, TPP) that can sequentially control the cell membrane and mitochondria targeting capacities, respectively; and 3) a ‐GDFDFpDY‐ assembly core to in situ organize peptide assemblies responsive to alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Comp. 4 demonstrates noticeable structural and morphological transformations in the presence of ALP and produces peptide assemblies in mouse colon cancer cells (CT26) with high expressions of both ALP and PD‐L1. Moreover, the presence of PD‐L1‐ and mitochondria‐specific motifs can assist Comp. 4 for effective endocytosis and endosomal escape, forming peptide assemblies and delivering LND into mitochondria. Consequently, Comp. 4 shows superior capacities to in vivo induce abundant mitochondrial oxidative stress, provoke robust ICD responses, and produce an immunogenic tumor microenvironment, successfully inhibiting CT26 tumor growth by eliciting a systemic ICD‐based antitumor immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a non-destructive testing method for crack defects of self-lubricating sliding bearing coating based on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was proposed. The self-lubricating coating materials were revealed to have good penetration and characteristic response in the terahertz band through experiments. To solve the problem of difficulty in signal feature extraction caused by overlap, the broad learning system was used to classify and predict time-domain signals of crack defects. The identification accuracy for crack defects is 96.08%, and the mean relative errors of prediction for interface and internal cracks (5 to 95 μm in size) are 4.16% and 3.40%, respectively. The method proved the applicability for qualitative and quantitative evaluation in crack defects, which is considered a new idea for the non-destructive testing of self-lubricating coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin semiconductor nanowires are promising alternatives to nanoparticle or bulk counterparts for the construction of photoanodes for solar energy conversion, because of their profuse surface reactive sites and excellent charge transport properties. Herein, well-aligned ultrathin corrugated nanowire TiO2 (UCW-TiO2) thin films with a diameter of 10 nm grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates by a unique monomicelle-directed assembly method are applied as a versatile photoanode platform. On this platform, photoanodes were used for direct photoelectrochemical (PEC) benzyl alcohol oxidation and can also be dye-sensitized for visible-light driven water oxidation. The conversion of benzyl alcohol (BA) over the pristine UCW-TiO2 photoanode is close to 100%, and the selectivity can reach 90.2% with a faradaic efficiency of 93% after 15 h. With surface anchoring of a suitable chromophore and oxygen evolution catalysts (OECs), the dye-sensitized UCW-TiO2 photoanode achieves 5-fold larger faradaic efficiency for water oxidation than that of a spherically structured TiO2 assembled photoanode. Electrochemical and spectroscopic measurements demonstrate that the ultrathin corrugated nanowire structured TiO2 accelerates electron transport kinetics and suppresses recombination of surface accumulated holes and electrons compared with spherically structured TiO2. Both BA oxidation and water oxidation studies show that the UCW-TiO2 is a versatile photoanode platform for a variety of highly efficient solar energy conversion applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a nondestructive testing technique, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy technology is commonly used to measure the thickness of ceramic coat in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). However, the invisibility of ceramic/thermally grown oxide (TGO) reflective wave leads to the measurement failure of natural growth TGO whose thickness is below 10 µm in TBCs. To detect and monitor TGO in the emergence stage, a time of flight (TOF) improved TGO thickness measurement method is proposed. A simulative investigation on propagation characteristics of terahertz shows the linear relationship between TGO thickness and phase shift of feature wave. The accurate TOF increment could be acquired from wavelet soft threshold and cross-correlation function with negative effect reduction of environmental noise and system oscillation. Thus, the TGO thickness could be obtained efficiently from the TOF increment of the monitor area with different heating times. The averaged error of 1.61 µm in experimental results demonstrates the highly accurate and robust measurement of the proposed method, making it attractive for condition monitoring and life prediction of TBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel LPWAN technology, ZCNET, is proposed, which achieves significantly higher network capacity than existing solutions, such as LoRa, Sigfox, and RPMA. The capacity boost of ZCNET is mainly due to two reasons. First, a ZCNET node transmits signals that occupy a small fraction of the signal space, resulting in a low collision probability. Second, ZCNET supports 8 parallel root channels within a single frequency channel by using 8 Zadoff-Chu (ZC) root sequences. The root channels do not severely interfere with each other, mainly because the interference power is spread evenly over the entire signal space. A simple ALOHA-style protocol is used for medium access, with which a node randomly chooses the root channel and the range it occupies within the root channel. ZCNET has been extensively tested with both real-world experiments on the USRP and simulations, and the results confirm that ZCNET achieves significant gains over LoRa, Sigfox, and RPMA. ZCNET will likely better accommodate the explosive growth of IoT network sizes and meet the demand of IoT applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing heterogeneous information network (HIN) embedding methods focus on static environments while neglecting the evolving characteristic of real-world networks. Although several dynamic embedding methods have been proposed, they are merely designed for homogeneous networks and cannot be directly applied in heterogeneous environments. To tackle above challenges, we propose a novel framework for incorporating temporal information into HIN embedding, named multi-view dynamic HIN embedding (MDHNE), which can efficiently preserve evolution patterns of implicit relationships from different views in updating node vectors over time. We first transform HIN to a series of homogeneous networks corresponding to different views. Then our proposed MDHNE applies recurrent neural network (RNN) to incorporate evolving pattern of complex network structure and semantic relationships between nodes into latent embedding spaces, and thus the node vectors from multiple views can be learned and updated when HIN evolves over time. Moreover, we come up with an attention-based fusion mechanism, which can automatically infer weights of latent vectors corresponding to different views by minimizing the objective function specific for different mining tasks. Extensive experiments clearly demonstrate that our MDHNE model outperforms state-of-the-art baselines on three real-world dynamic datasets for different network mining tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimicking natural nitrogenase to create highly efficient single‐atom catalysts (SACs) for ambient N2 fixation is highly desired, but still challenging. Herein, S‐coordinated Fe SACs on mesoporous TiO2 have been constructed by a lattice‐confined strategy. The extended X‐ray absorption fine structure and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra demonstrate that Fe atoms are anchored in TiO2 lattice via the FeS2O2 coordination configuration. Theoretical calculations reveal that FeS2O2 sites are the active centers for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). Moreover, the finite element analysis shows that confinement of opened and ordered mesopores can facilitate the mass transport and offer an enlarged active surface area for NRR. As a result, this catalyst delivers a favorable NH3 yield rate of 18.3 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 with a high Faradaic efficiency of 17.3 % at −0.20 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. Most importantly, this lattice‐confined strategy is universal and can also be applied to Ni1Sx@TiO2, Co1Sx@TiO2, Mo1Sx@TiO2, and Cu1Sx@TiO2 SACs. Our study provides new hints for the design and biomimetic synthesis of highly efficient NRR electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimicking natural nitrogenase to create highly efficient single‐atom catalysts (SACs) for ambient N2 fixation is highly desired, but still challenging. Herein, S‐coordinated Fe SACs on mesoporous TiO2 have been constructed by a lattice‐confined strategy. The extended X‐ray absorption fine structure and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra demonstrate that Fe atoms are anchored in TiO2 lattice via the FeS2O2 coordination configuration. Theoretical calculations reveal that FeS2O2 sites are the active centers for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). Moreover, the finite element analysis shows that confinement of opened and ordered mesopores can facilitate the mass transport and offer an enlarged active surface area for NRR. As a result, this catalyst delivers a favorable NH3 yield rate of 18.3 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 with a high Faradaic efficiency of 17.3 % at −0.20 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. Most importantly, this lattice‐confined strategy is universal and can also be applied to Ni1Sx@TiO2, Co1Sx@TiO2, Mo1Sx@TiO2, and Cu1Sx@TiO2 SACs. Our study provides new hints for the design and biomimetic synthesis of highly efficient NRR electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Copper-Induced Supramolecular Peptide Assemblies for Multi-Pathway Cell Death and Tumor Inhibition" discusses the issue of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments and their impact on anti-tumor immune responses. The cover image of the article depicts tumor cells as icebergs with organelles as ice blocks, while copper peptide nanoparticles are represented as meteorites attacking the organelles. The melting ice symbolizes the activation of multiple cell death pathways and the transformation of cold tumors into hot tumors. The research article, authored by Ling Wang, Jie Gao, and others, provides further details on this topic. [Extracted from the article]

The article titled "Back Cover: Copper-Induced Supramolecular Peptide Assemblies for Multi-Pathway Cell Death and Tumor Inhibition" discusses the issue of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments and their impact on anti-tumor immune responses. The cover image depicts tumor cells as icebergs with copper peptide nanoparticles falling from the sky, attacking multiple organelles and causing the ice to melt. This symbolizes the activation of multiple cell death pathways and the transformation of "cold" tumors into "hot" tumors. The research article, authored by Ling Wang, Jie Gao, and others, provides further details on this topic. [Extracted from the article]

We investigated the phase transition and anisotropic optical property of MoO3 under pressure by optical spectroscopy. An α-MoO3 to MoO3-II transition and another MoO3-II to MoO3-III transition were observed at 11 and at 27 GPa, respectively. Accompanied by the structural transition, its optical anisotropy also changes with pressure. While maintaining the similar angle-resolved intensity patterns, the polarization angle with the maximum intensity of the Mo–O2–Mo symmetric stretching mode moves from 90° to 105° then back to 90° with pressure. The result is helpful to understand the mechanism of the pressure-induced phase transition and tune the anisotropic optical properties of MoO3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are usually used in high temperature and harsh environment, resulting in thinning or even spalling off. Hence, it is vital to detect the thickness of the TBCs. In this study, a hybrid machine learning model combined with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy technology was designed to predict the thickness of TBCs. The terahertz signals were obtained from the samples prepared in laboratory and actual turbine blade. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to decrease the data dimensions. Finally, an extreme learning machine (ELM) was proposed to establish the thickness of TBCs prediction model. Genetic algorithm (GA) was selected to optimize the model to make it more accurate. The results showed that the root correlation coefficient (R2) exceeded 0.97 and the errors (root mean square error and mean absolute percentage error) were less than 2.57. This study proposes that terahertz time-domain technology combined with PCA–GA–ELM model is accurate and feasible for evaluating the thickness of the TBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), microplastics (MPs) are complex, especially with mixed domestic-industrial influents. Conventional random grab sampling can roughly depict the distribution and characteristics of MPs but can not accurately reflect their daily fluctuations. In this study, the concentration, shape, polymer type, size, and color of MPs were analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy (detection limit of 0.05 mm) throughout treatment stages of three mixed domestic-industrial WWTPs (W1, W2, and W3) in Wuxi City, China, and the daily fluctuations of MPs were also obtained by dense grab sampling within 24 h. For influent samples, the average MP concentration of 392.2 items/L in W1 with 10% industrial wastewater was much higher than those in W2 (71.2 items/L with 10% industrial wastewater) and W3 (38.3 items/L with 60% industrial wastewater). White polyethylene granules with a diameter less than 0.5 mm from plastic manufacturing were the most dominant MPs in the influent of W1, proving the key role of industrial sources in MPs pollution. In addition, the daily dense sampling results showed that MP concentration in W1 influent fluctuated widely between 29.1 items/L and 4617.6 items/L within a day. Finally, few MPs (less than 4.0 items/L) in these WWTPs effluents were attributed to the effective removal of wastewater treatment processes. Thus, further attention should be paid to regulating the primary sources of MPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, a novel strategy to selectively degrade membrane proteins of programmed cell death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) in cancer cells is reported. 4T1 cells show high levels of extracellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and membrane proteins of PD‐L1. Therefore, peptide derivatives capable of responding to ALP and binding to PD‐L1 are designed. Enzyme‐instructed self‐assembly (EISA) by ALP and surface‐induced self‐assembly by PD‐L1 of Comp. 3 leads to the selective formation of nanomaterials around PD‐L1 on the cell membrane, which is similar to attaching a hydrophobic label to the surface of PD‐L1 to simulate its partial denaturation state. When taken up by cells, PD‐L1 could be further degraded by the proteasome pathway in the cytoplasm. This process does not occur in the normal cell line, LO2 cells, which express relatively low levels of ALP. In addition to concentration and time dependence, the selective knock‐out of PD‐L1 by the strategy is reversible by simply removing Comp. 3. In vivo studies reveal that Comp. 3 inhibits tumor growth in a tumor‐bearing mouse model. The study offers a novel platform for the precise degradation of membrane proteins using EISA, which might ultimately lead to the development of novel nanomedicines to treat diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path planning of mobile robot has always been a focus in the field of robotics for a long time, which is highly related to the ability of the robot to execute tasks. However, many traditional path planning algorithms are not suitable for the dynamic environments, which are more common in reality. In this paper, a predictive path planning algorithm for mobile robot in the dynamic environments is proposed based on the rapidly exploring random tree algorithm. Under the premise of pre-searching the global approximate optimal path, the algorithm introduces a simple movement prediction about the mobile robot itself and the dynamic obstacles according to their velocities and then re-plans the path against the dynamic obstacles, which accelerates the search speed of re-planning, reduces the path cost and the probability of collision, and improves the quality of the re-planning path. Computer simulations show the effectiveness and the superiority of the new strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunotherapy has shown great promise for the treatment of cancer. However, the limited efficacy of single‐agent immunotherapy hinders its widespread application, which stimulated the investigation of combination therapy with improved efficacy. Herein, a tri‐functional immunostimulatory supramolecular nanomedicine consisting of indoximod (IND, an indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO) inhibitor), DPPA‐1 (a D‐peptide antagonist against programmed cell death ligand‐1 (PD‐L1)), and a self‐assembling D‐tetrapeptide of GDFDFDY (a powerful adjuvant with immunostimulatory properties) is reported. The resulting IND‐GDFDFDY‐DPPA‐1 behaves as a supramolecular "trident," and its three functional parts play parallel roles to boost the effective immune responses. It is shown that the supramolecular "trident" exhibits a stronger binding ability to PD‐L1 than the DPPA‐1 peptide (>fourfold) and is able to inhibit the IDO‐1 pathway more efficiently than IND itself. The supramolecular "trident" activates and recruits the cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes along with other immune effector cells in tumors, concomitant with downregulation of Foxp3+ T cells and upregulation of tumor immune‐related cytokines, thus showing a strong ability to improve the tumor microenvironment and enhance immunotherapeutic effects to prevent tumor growth and metastasis in the breast tumor model. The findings may stimulate the development of self‐assembling peptide‐based multifunctional nanomedicines for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: MicroRNA-155 (miR-155) regulates activation of T cells. However, its relationship with T-cell immune activation level in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients remains unclear. Methods: We recruited 103 HIV-1 infected patients with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and 79 cART naïve patients. The miR-155 levels in circulatory T cells were detected by quantitative reverse transcription–PCR. T cell immune activation was detected by the expression of CD38 via flow cytometry. Results: The levels of miR-155 in the total peripheral blood mononuclear cells, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells from HIV-1 patients were increased (p < 0.01). cART naïve patients exhibited much higher miR-155 levels in CD4 + and CD8+ T cells than patients with cART(p < 0.01). The percentage of CD4 + CD38+ T and CD8 + CD38+ T cells was also increased in cART naïve patients (p < 0.01). MiR-155 level was positively related to immune activation of T cells. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that miR-155 levels in circulating T cells of HIV-1 patients are increased and associated with T cell activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of stress deformation and crack distribution of hollow prefabricated beams, three double-hole hollow precast beams and a solid comparative beam were tested. The static loading method was adopted to compare the performance indicators of hollow prefabricated beams with solid prefabricated beams, such as test process description, failure morphology, load-deflection curve, mid-span deformation, bearing capacity and influence of opening. The research results show that the double-hole hollow prefabricated beam optimizes and improves the force transmission path and law during the stress deformation process, and reduces the stress concentration. Through the calculation and comparison of the same-scale members, the raw material consumption of the double-hole hollow prefabricated beam is reduced by 36.41%. The cracking load of the double-hole hollow prefabricated beam is increased by about 41.19% compared with the solid beam. Double opening hole has a certain delay effect on the early cracking of ordinary prefabricated beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an impact source localization technique, Lamb waves are commonly used to detect low velocity impacts in composite structures. However, the performance of Lamb waves is susceptible to vibration conditions. In this paper, vibration effects on Lamb waves are explored, and an adaptive-filtering enhanced multiple signal classification (AF-MUSIC) method is proposed to generate a relative robust impact source localization method. The response sensor array signals are contaminated by noises, which makes the traditional multiple signal classification (MUSIC) method unable to localize impact sources. In present method, the adaptive-filtering is utilized to reduce vibration induced noises of array data, then the impact position represented by the angle and distance in polar coordinates are finally estimated by scanning the whole monitoring area using MUSIC. The experimental results show that the present method can relatively robust localizes impact sources effectively, especially for the vibration conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the positive impact of ride sharing on urban traffic and environment, it has attracted a lot of research attention recently. However, most existing researches focused on the profit maximization or the itinerary minimization of drivers, only rare work has covered on adjustable price function and matching algorithm for the batch requests. In this paper, we propose a request matching algorithm and an adjustable price function that benefits drivers as well as passengers. Our request-matching algorithm consists of an exact search algorithm and a group search algorithm. The exact search algorithm consists of three steps. The first step is to prune some invalid groups according to the total number of passengers and the capacity of vehicles. The second step is to filter out all candidate groups according to the compatibility of requests in same group. The third step is to obtain the most profitable group by the adjustable price function, and recommend the most profitable group to drivers. In order to enhance the efficiency of the exact search algorithm, we further design an improved group search algorithm based on the idea of original simulated annealing. Extensive experimental results show that our method can improve the income of drivers, and reduce the expense of passengers. Meanwhile, ride sharing can also keep the utilization rate of seats 80%, driving distance is reduced by 30%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]